Award-winning artist Marilyn Barkhouse was considered something of an artistic prodigy at a very early age. Born on Prince Edward Island in the Canadian Maritimes, the artist attended the fine art program at Acadia University in Nova Scotia at the age of fifteen. She went on to graduate early from the Graphic Design and Fine Art program at Annapolis Campus in Middleton, Nova Scotia in order to begin competition in the gallery circuit at the age of only nineteen.